TThis is a Guest Post, brought to you by Jonathan Streblow, a traveler and travel blogger, who writes on behalf of OnTheBeach.com

Thoughts on Long Term Travel

I recently had the opportunity to go on an extended year-long trip. From the travelers’ perspective, this was amazing; from my bank account’s  it was a bit daunting as I was worried about exhausting all of my savings. Cheap holidays are pretty hard to achieve when you are gone for such a long time – of course there are ways to get around this.

Before I embarked on this epic journey I saw traveling as a chance to escape the drudgery of work and I spent most of my traveling time reading, relaxing or sight seeing. However, on this one year adventure I did not have the luxury to relax totally, as I had to work. Some of my work was spent  relaxing of course, but I did dedicate a chunk of time to working, which included digging pits in vineyards, serving drinks at a bar and doing temp work when I was in a Cape Town, South Africa. This was life experience, and working was not a bad thing at all as I was able to get out and experience what it was like to live and work in a different environment, and that was a cultural experience.

As a result, I re-examined my own ideas about traveling,  that the purpose of traveling was to be self indulgent. `I used to go to a city and treat myself to the best food I could find – I figured since I might only be in a spot once, I might as well get the best cuisine I could find. While on my year long journey I had to leave this well behind and cut every single corner when it came to expense – this meant eating cheap food, staying in affordable hostels and finding transport for next to nothing (even if that meant it would take forever). Above all, the treats were few and far between.

Long term travel is not like going on an all inclusive holiday – you can’t spoil yourself and you can’t sit under a parasol and read all day. But these pleasant things are not what long, rambling ventures are about – instead, they should be focused on seeing the world, meeting new people and taking the chance to live your life free from the bonds of work and the office. Giving up your spare time and fancy meals to achieve this is a sacrifice that is well worth making.

As a result, I have a better understanding of the world and my experience in it. I recommend long term travel to everyone.